This Group 42 is a child of Group 41 where the moderator ceased to post.

Group 41 was only alive for a short time and therefore not much happened. A corsair ship, the Hungry Gaze, hired a few mercenaries and assaulted a small merchant vessel. According to a letter found there, there should be something valuable in a nearby village. This thread starts with the planning of an attack against this target. Rules and recommendations:

First of all, have fun! If you find out at some point you are not having fun please let me know so we can discuss how to change it. If you have some orders what you want to see in the story, let me know. I do not promise anything but I will try to allow it in some way. This may include for example places you would like to visit, deeds to accomplish, NPCs to speak to, foes to fight, riches to obtain; but you might also want to introduce a certain theme or shift the story in some mood. Even these wishes can have a chance of being fulfilled.

There is no firmly set story. If something interests you or if you have a plan for conquering the world, go for it! Speak to the NPC, read that book, perform that ritual, organize the singing contest. Even better if you find a solution to a plot relevant problem I have not expected. I like to get surprised.

If you want to do something please tell me even before writing about it ("once there is occasion I want to speak to X"; "I want to secretly set the building on fire while we go out"; "I really want to answer this challenge but have no time to post"). If you report such a plan I will know I should wait with the story and let you write your intention; if there are no such reports I will know I can push the story two weeks forwards without making anyone unahppy.

If you want to make me happy, give your posts some care. I think it is worth to wait two more days if it means a better read for us all. It might even give you an advantage when I will decide if your action is successful.

As usual, complex actions can only be attempted as there is no guarantee you will really be able to climb that wall. On the other hand, if such an action does not harm another character (player on non-player), someone's valued possession or does not shift the story you are granted an automatic success so that the flow of our posts smoothens. For example, you can only attempt to punch the captain (he is a character) or break the wheel on your ship (you will probably need it and others might want to stop you). You can only attempt to steal a trusted sword of a fellow fighter (attack against his possessions is an attack against him) or sneak into this prison (I might decide it will be more fun if you get noticed.) On the other hand, you can freely steel some honey from a kitchen (no one really cares) and you can do a back flip just for fun if you have the appropriate skillset (it does affect nothing). If unsure about a specific action, just ask.

There will be no counting of arrows, rations and such as I am too lazy for this. This does not include throwing knives. If you drop something during combat (or at any other occasion, actually), you will retrieve it without having to specifically write about it unless it is clear something is hindering you.

The raiding party:Ship: The Hungry GazeCaptain: Kireth Snakeskin, grumpy but respected by his crewFirst Officer: Incareth Aez, quite quiet and polite for a sailorNotable Corsairs: Iscar (the scout who likes to climb high in the ropes), Hendor (the supersticious cook), Galder (the muscular sleeveless elf)Mercenaries: - Polibastious Kirvaleth and Darven Kruz (both strong, armoured, have worked together before); - Paithan Darkshadow (disgraced Khainite);

Companion ship: The TempestousCaptain: Hereny of House Mazier- Shyamal of House Mazier, a dark sorceress- Dolan Steelshorn (strong arms and simple mind, likes to drink, formerly a mercenary on The Hungry Gaze, now learning smithery)- Analya Durekhar (impulsive noble girl, formerly a mercenary on The Hungry Gaze, now leading some scheme towards sacking the Empire)

humans:Margrave Hildebrand von Trotzenau, the vengeful hereticalchemist in whose house the book "On the boundary between life and death" was found

It was a nice spring evening, with sky a beautiful shade of blue, with sun already preparing for rest but air still remaining warm. The sea was just gently kissing the Hungry Gaze's sides and seagulls were circling above its deck.

There was not much movement on board. The sail hung lank and the anchor rope was tightened by a steady force. Corsairs sat in a few groups, sharpening weapons, preparing ropes and bonds, repairing armour. Sometimes they threw in a shot remark but mostly they were remaining silent. One of them tried an old bowstring, it broke off and lashed him over his forearm. He grimaced with pain and a single red stripe appeared on his skin. It caused a few amused comments but soon the talk ceased again. The captain was leaning over the board, staring into the dark woods on shore. High above them all a man sat on guard. Everything was remaining motionless and the place seemed as peaceful as paradise.

There were not many sounds to be heard, either. The tides were fuzzing ceaselessly and from time to time a seagull called. Because of that, the heated discussion on the deck was very clear to hear. This was going to be the first attack on the shore this ship would make this year and the first opportunity for the mercenaries to show themselves as leaders. There were many opinions to state.

“You really want to shine the first time you are allowed to lead an attack, do you? Good.” The captain's right hand man grinned amusedly but he seemed to remain very serious at the same time. “Well, there is not much we know. There will be probably some horses in the village, the strong sturdy kind for pulling heavy carts. We have no idea where the nearest decent soldiers are stationed but we should have a few hours at least.”

He cleared his throat. The mercenaries Kruz and Kirvaleth, the strong towering elves with three swords each, were standing there silently, listening but not even looking at the speaker. “About the precious thing we want to salvage,” the first officer continued, “there were two letters by the captain. In the first he was given instructions by some bishop to reclaim any possessions of the, quote, heretic margrave Hildebrand von Trotzenau who had sealed pacts with demons, unquote, most of all any books but including everything he touched. To this end he was supposed to search the house of an alchemist who should be a friend of said heretic margrave. He was also warned that this noble is known as a vengeful man so it might be better not to reveal his name. In the second letter the same bishop was asking this alchemist to comply. Contrary to Kireth I do not believe there will be much of worth. A pair of fur gloves maybe. But this village is as good as any.”

The sailor paused and gave the mercenaries an expecting look.

Answering the many questions asked. If I have forgotten something just ask the first officer again, he is only an elf and has obviously not remembered it all.

[OOC: For this discussion I will keep Analya's posts separate from the moderator ones, but once the attack gets launched, she will lose this privilege.]

Stupid officer. Why has he previously been so secretive? Was it so hard to tell this all without asking? They could have spared themselves a lot of empty prattle.

Stupid meeting. They should end it quickly before she gets so full of it all that she rips someone's eyes. Like the dumb executioner who thinks how terrifying is his mask while everything Analya wanted to do seeing him was to laugh. Or maybe cry in despair.

“So the plan is mostly agreed on, I think,” she said in her usual rash manner. “It is unlikely the alchemist would be hiring capable bodyguards and so we can go as in any other village. We close in during night, send someone competent to scout, then we pull the bumpkins out of their beds, starting with the alchemist if possible. We will split in two groups, one breaking into houses, with our two big secretive guys, Paithan, Dolan, Searinox and a few corsairs, led by me; the other staying in reserve and keeping crossbows ready in case some surprise emerges, with Caraoc and mister Aez here, led by Ladry. Someone disagrees?”

She was trying to hide at least a part of her hostility but nevertheless, there was a clear taint of impatience and disdain in her voice.

Ladry curls her lips slightly at the mention of a human heretic. How would that even work? He worships a different god than the rest, and suddenly he is an outcast, outlaw, marked for death. Humans! The mere thought of such a primitive doctrine holding such power over commoners made her want to watch humans burn. She took a deep breath of the moist spring air, the coast was close enough for the coming growth of life to reach her nostrils. Ah, what it would be like to not live in chiling cold all year round.

As Analya presented an assault plan, Ladry tossed her long hair to her back and nodded in agreement. That sounds sound enough. She offers when Analya pauses to look around. Although it might be helpful if you took someone along that would be able to somehow commune with this human?

'An alchemist hey?' Searinox tought back to the alchemist in his family, an old bat in his family that tended to bring forth more calamity with his alchemic creations then anything good. On several occasions they had to remodel the mansion because one of his creations would blow up or catch fire. Eventually putting his labratory near the dungeons inside a room with fortified walls and protected with enchantments. 'This could be fun.'

"Sounds good enough, I'll take the scouting job if that fits into your plan," Searimox replied in a mocking tone. He had noticed Analya's impatiance but did not care for it, if they wanted to get this done cleanly they'd have to know where this alchemist is and any other points of interrest. "I have experiancein it and I'm alot more nible then some of the others in the attacking party." He patted Dolan on his shoulder in a friendly jest. He then turned towards Ladry. "As for taking someone with us to communicate with this human... I truely doubt he'll be in a talkative mood after a small party of Druchii came crashing into his front door. So I think we just need to find him, capture him and then drag him back to the Hungry Gaze so that the captain can interrogate him."

The consensus was to attack at dawn, to loot a fishermen's village and to search thoroughly an alchemist's house for books and heretic artefacts.Analya proposed a plan which was as good as any.Caraoc tried to anticipate what could happen, as was expected from a pilot and Astromancer.

"Some remarks.Will the village have some sentry awake? If anyone needs to die, that must be him. After that, the longer we can stay quiet, the safer.Will the alchemist's house be easy to spot? That house must not burn. If we cannot tell, then we should not burn anything.The best should be to enslave the villagers house by house.Will there be some kind of garrison in the village? As we need to search thoroughly a house and we intend to search them all for slaves, we must first make sure it is neutralized. I don't expect much for a mundane fisherman village, but this one is important enough for a margrave to have sought refuge in. If the villagers did not provide any protection, then maybe some arcane garrison would?If we find two mansions of interest in the village, the achemist's and some landlord's, shouldn't we first attacked the most protected while one of us monitors the alchemist's?"

He was only half interested in the reply and kept thinking ahead. If the villagers found themselves to have war horses, Caraoc's "Beastbane" Horn would suffice to send them running for Hell. The real danger was arrows. The Weather Forecaster concentrated next onto his field of expertise. The best weather they could expect would be moonlight for travelling the few miles to close the village, then a convenient cloud would be apreciated to dim light as they would attack. But no rain.

Good. They were beginning to be productive at least. Analya was still maintaining a distance but her anger was slowly fading away.

She turned to Caraoc. “There can indeed be all sorts of surprises; this is why I want to leave some of you in reserve. You won't stay very far away and will be able to lend aid quickly but you will have time to prepare as well. Besides, you will take care of the already enslaved humans. Good remark with the sentry. This will be another task for our scouts. One more reason we do not want to set anything on fire is that we do not want to draw attention of nearby settlements.The rest we can decide once we know more about the battlefield. Now we should go prepare ourselves. There is a long walk ahead.”

"I can speak human a bit and have nothing against joining the forwards group," nodded Incaneth Aez when the mercenaries reached an agreement. “I will inform the crew, then,” he said. Turning to Searinox, he added: “Iscar is a decent scout, too. I will let him report to you. If you do not want help just send him back to me. He won't mind taking some break.” Having said that he bowed very slightly in the general direction of the gathered mercenaries and walked away.

***

Caraoc let the gurgling conversation flow around him almost unnoticed and instead aimed his attention at the sea and air around him, at winds both mundane and magical, at tides breaking on the shore and crystals of salt escaping from their grip. He sensed the clear and chilly night that was to come, he felt the water will resist and remain pleasingly warm but the mainland will succumb to the freeze. He observed hot air going up and cool one descending and he could almost taste the wind blowing from shore to the sea. He admired grains of salt in the air, every one catching a small water drop and then joining others in a wait for sun. His mind was as clear as the night that will come and at the same time resting in a pillow as soft as the fog. It would be hard to find a feeling as pleasant as this one.

***“Am I supposed to bow and call you sir? I am Iscar. Maybe you have noticed me high above the board some time. I like taking care of the highest sails. The lower ones are for cowards.” The man who approached Searinox was dark and sturdy. His leather vest was revealing strong arm muscles, the face was wide and burned by sun, hair short and thick, eyes attentive.

“I am used to work alone but I suppose I can go in the direction you wink. Do we have a plan?”

***

Then the night came and the assault party disembarked. The march to their target was actually nice and refreshing, the moon was shining, stars were as bright as on the sea and the humming of trees had something comforting to it. The air was getting very cold, however; most of the elves had clothed themselves warmly and a few of them just ignored the chill, seemingly immune to it. The elves went silently along the shore just at the border of forest most of the time, prepared to seek cover in the shadow of the trees; there were sentries scouting both ahead of them and behind. After a while, they stepped into the forest and continued in the shadows, far slower than before.

Finally, they could see their target, roughly two hours before dawn. The village was rather small, not more than thirty houses. It was ducking right on the shore. On one side, there was an apple orchard; on the others there were fields and the sea; after less than a mile the view was obscured by low hills. The dark elves could see a small church in the middle of the village, built as close to the water as possible; it was a simple wooden building with a low tower. There was no other house that would stand out at the distance; it seemed a few around the church were a bit bigger than the rest. There was no movement to notice; somewhere, a horse snorted.

The discussion ends and all dark elves, save the captain and a handful of corsairs, move in the vicinity of the target village. (If you still want to say something you can just include it in your next post; if it should change something important say a word in the OOC forum and we will think of something)Caraoc, your forecasting was successful: a clear night, fog in the morning. Searinox, a corsair capable of scouting reports to you, deal with him in some way. Then go scouting. For the others, there is not much to do. Apologies for that; I will try to launch the attack as soon as possible.

As the preparation meeting ended, Caraoc had an opportunity to present the weather forecast for that night:fresh and clear till early dawn, then suddenly a rather dense fog was to be expected."Be sure to observe the village at distance while you can, and to memorize where the houses are.We should position ourselves, concealed very carefully.At dawn, fog will come abruptly. Sentries will no longer see well, but still hear well. At least, bowmen will not be an issue.However, we won't see very far, and the Humans will still know the terrain that we won't see anymore.That should be an advantage as they will not know how few we are, and they will be tempted to flee into the fog where they won't harm us."

As they were walking, each member of the group progressed silently. A very professional show.Some were observing carefully, noting the path back to the ship.Others were deep in their toughts, concentrating before an event which, no matter how mundane it might be, could seal their fate with a single blade.

A village of 30 roofs appeared, built around a temple of some sort. As it had a tower, it was likely to be where one or two sentries watched the surroundings, probably concentrating on the sea, where threat could come with little notice, and towards woods, from where an expert land threat could come with little notice.The Elves did not have much rest, but the exitement of the coming skirmish compensated largely that.The Humans were coming to the end of their night. Usually they would wake up at dawn, when birds would call the sun to rise. Better start the fight before.

Caraoc informed Analya about how he intended to carry out the tasks she gave him.He would be last to leave wood cover. He would remain as long as possible near the nearest house, shooting an occasional bolt as the fog did not disturb his short range anyway, but concentrating on listening what was going on.If the fog turned out to be very dense, there would be a need to use sound coordination.Caraoc suggested that his horn could be used for emergency signals:"If the Humans sound their alarm, I will send one long blow of the horn. It can only lower their morale. Afterwards, no longer need to remain stealthy.If I were to sound three short blows, that would mean that things are going wrong and all valid Elves are to return to ship and safety.Five blows means that the battle is over and we should gather the new slaves, probably inside the temple, before we start to search thoroughly each house."

Ladry observed with a degree of anticipation how the plan seemed to come together between the mercenaries and the corsair crew. This was a good sign; no muttering of discontent means cooperation, and survival. Upon hearing Analyas remark of putting houses to the torch, however, her mood sank a bit. "I should note that I will be of limited use if we are to avoid any kind of smoke signals... May I suggest that we simply keep fire at a minimum until the alchemists house is identified; that house is then off limits for fire. If anything else should somehow catch fire, I will not waste energy on taming it." She smirked ever so slightly at the last remark. She was actually looking forward to turning this entire village into a flaming hailstorm of death and ruin. Every human captive that could not fit into the hull of their ship might as well serve as an offering to the glorious Flame.

__________________

As the party made its way ashore and on towards the village, Ladry enjoyed having solid earth under her feet once more. A ship, surrounded by water, had never seemed inconvenient in the past. But now, she knew, no flame could possibly outdo this much water. Solid ground was much to prefer! And the smell of trees. Spring was close, and it would be a warm spring here in the human lands. Not like the harsh spring storms of Naggarond, and although the air this morning was chill as ice, she paid it no heed. Coldness was nothing to her.

Upon reaching the village, Ladry deftly made her way to the front of the group and observed the village. The pointed in the direction of the church buildings tower, trying to catch a glimpse of a lookout with a small fire for company. "We will keep silent for as long as possible. Combatants at your fronts will be your own to handle, any that might try to outflank you, I will turn into a smouldering heap of ash. Even though organised resistance is not what we expect, should it come to hand-to-hand, I will guide the fires to protect you if I can, so do not be alarmed." With those words, she briefly closed her eyes to the outside world and called upon the Flame to empower her. The winds of magic whistled softly through the trees... If there are hostile magic users in the village, I must seek them out and neutralise them...

Ladry tries to spot a lookout in the church tower, and informs her comrades that she will be in a ranged supportive role, according to the plan. In addition, she tries to "feel" for hostile magic users in the village; she will try to counteract them as much as possible.

Aa Iscar approached, Searinox studied him, he had seen him working the top masts of the ship, at the very least he was nimbke enough for a scouts job. But was he as decent as Incareth mentioned he was? Only time will tell. Searinox then let out a small laugh at Iscar's remark. "I wouldn't expect you to call me that if I told you to." Searinox pulled out the 2/3 full bottle of Brandy he still had left and toke a drink from it. "Just call me Searinox and I'll call you Iscar, it's that simple. As for a plan, beeing with two allows us to cover more group faster. First priorities should be to find any sentries and defenses, and ofcourse the Alchemists house. It shouldn't be to hard to notice, they tend to have a few to many chimneys and generaly bellow out all kinds of different colored smoke. We'll communcate using simple hand signs, you do know what signs mean what right?." Ending his explanation with a small jest he then offered Iscar the remaining 1/3 bottle of brandy as a sign of 'good will'. 'Can't gave him backstabbing me out there now can we?'

He then picked up on Caroacs forecast. 'Maybe Ladrielle will bless us with her concealing mists as we make our escape. I should give a prayer before the raiding start asking her to guide us through it.' The Lady of Mists had always blessed the House of Corvus in the past with her concealing mists during their raids. So reciting a small prayer for her blessing can't hurt.

-----------

As the group advanced towards their target Searinox studied the terrain as they went. The direction of the wind, the times of flora allong the way, the route back to the ship. he toke in everything, taking note of the apple ochard in paticular as it seemed to be the most concealed way into the village. He tapped Iscar on the shoulder and pointed towards the orchad before ut dissapeared behind the hill "Thats where we go in."

Once the village was out of sight except the church tower Searinox listened to what the others had to say. "Sounds clear enough Caroac, Iscar and I will go up infront. he patted on Iscars back. "We'll return as fast as possible hopefully with the location of the Alchemists house and any other important information we find." He then turned to Ladry "I have full confidence you'll be able to support our flanks with your flames, just don't get starteled again and let out a pillar of flames when one of them gets to close." Adding a smile and a wink to his jest towards Ladry he signaled Iscar and went on his way to the apple orchard. Making sure to stay as hidden as possible duri.g this vlear night.

Explaining his plan to Iscar and suggedting a sillent form of communication between themlooking for ways to get close to the village unnoticedmaking a small jest towards Ladry concerning their duel on the shipMaking his way towardd the Apple Orchad, hopefully unnoticed

Once the dark elves halted on the forest edge they began to feel the chill much more intensively. Most of them were huddling in their cloaks, sitting on the ground or pacing to and fro, some were leaning against a tree. Their faces seemed rather empty; there was a slight hint of anticipation and eagerness, a bigger portion of fatigue but most of all they appeared just as someone doing a daily routine.

From the cluster, two scouts detached. It was not hard to sneak into the orchard as the trees obscured view from the village; crossing the distance to the first houses was even easier. Iscar had already known the hand signals Searinox had suggested and he had taken a good gulp of his brandy; he was now quickly proceeding forwards with swift, efficient moves. The disgraced noble was keeping himself several yards to the left, using a line of trees as cover. He was carefully yet quickly weighing every step, avoiding everything that could possibly make some noise. Soon they got to the border of the village itself and parted their ways, circling around it in opposite directions.

There was not much Caraoc could be doing at that exact moment. His horn was safely secured, everyone knew already what the signals meant – the corsairs had used similar signals in their past raids but none with sounds as clear and loud. Now the pilot could only have observed his companions – but for him this might have meant a lot.

While most of the waiting elves were lost in thoughts several of them seemed very attentive to their surroundings. Analya and Incaneth were both searching the darkness with sight and hearing as if there were no sentries on guard. Kirvaleth's eyes were fixed on the dark spot where the scouts had disappeared while Darven was sitting comfortably on the ground but was watching the fire mage with unusual attentiveness. Ladry herself then was inspecting the village with her inner sight; she had already noticed an unclear movement on top of the church tower which might have easily meant a human on guard and now she was searching the winds of magic for the strange exotic smell of other wizards.

The village was very easy to navigate. A few houses were forming the boundary of village square. One of them was the church; another one had a sign with a wooden mug over the door. A few more buildings were scattered around with no clear pattern but they were too few to confuse anyone. By almost all of them there were various sheds and outhouses, sometimes a hencoop or dog kennel. There was no building with unusually many chimneys but in front of the house furthest in the direction inlands there was a small garden where instead of ordinary vegetables, a large variety of strange plants was growing.

The faint glow of a magic affinity was hard to notice but Ladry was sure she was really sensing it. The colour was quite strange, though. It was self-confident and aggressive but not as much as the wind of Aqshy, with a strong desire matching that of Ghyran but at the same time as elusive as Ulghu. The best comparison Ladry was able to make was perhaps to the strong and domineering wills of dark sorceresses but no user of Dhar would glow as weakly as this; and unlike the powerful minds from the Convent this being did not seem much interested in confidently jumping in the midst of action. It was just some patient glowing thing in the house farthest from sea.

There were quite a lot of animals in the village that could ruin their surprise attack– dogs that could start barking, horses that would probably frighten in danger. The most imminent threat was the man in the church tower, however. He did not seem particularly wary and it was very easy for Searinox and Iscar to stay in the shadows and evade any attention but he was definitely awake, pacing back and forth or gazing around, mostly in the direction of the sea. Other than that, the village was at peace; only the deep breaths of sleepers were to hear if an elf got close enough.

On the ground, clouds of fog were slowly emerging. Maybe the Lady of Mists has blessed them, indeed. The night was still in full darkness but it was not long before dawn.

Searinox, your scouting goes without complications. There is a man on top of the tower but he will be easy to deal with: just write a post about it without waiting at my approval, any at least somewhat sensible action will succeed. I would like to start the attack in my next mod post so that others have something to do, too. If you want to know something more about the village, ask in the OOC forum.Ladry, you spotted the man on the tower. In addition, you can sense some sort of magic energy in the village. It might be a magic user but he would be very weak and of some weird school; it might stem from some other source, too.Caraoc, I have tried to feed you with some info at least. Not that you would learn much. The horn code got accepted, though.

The two scouts went to investigate the village.Every Elf remained silent, having not much to do on the forest edge. But contrary to them, the Azyr mage needed not to be in the village to help the two investigators!The danger for them was to be spotted by the sentry, or by one of the many animals that made the village's best guards.The light of the stars was enough for the Astromancer. In the idleness of the cold night, he started to concentrate their faint beams into a Heaven's Harmonic Convergence, so that the scout's path would be subtly made more visible in front of them before they would take it. That would help them to avoid stepping on the occasional branch.

Ladry showed some barely perceivable nervous signs. She was scrutinizing not only with her eyes, as the Astromancer could faintly feel. She had spotted a movement in the spire, but also suspected that one of the houses could have some arcane sensitivity. As Caraoc was tapping into the winds of magic, that disturbed her scrutiny and she rolled her eyes at him but did not dare to interrupt him.Caraoc understood the call. He was an Astromancer, divination was part of his proficiency. Soon the fog would come and it would be too late. With the little indication provided by Ladry, the mage changed his spell, and converged the arcane star beams onto the house which rose the Fire mage's curiosity.Disturbing a spot of magic dust with stellar wind would create a more perceivable magic area.

1. Harmonic convergence to help the two scouts remain undetected.2. Then trying to evidence the magic in the area around the house furthest from sea.

Searinox and Iscar made their way through the orchard. The tree's provided them with enough cover to sneak close to the village undetected and Searinox watched for every step he toke, making sure not to step on and branches to alert anything or -Ladrielle forbid- tripping over one. Picking up his pace he moved ahead of Iscar as they closed in on the village. A quick glance over his shoulder to make sure Iscar could see him he signaled him to circle the village from the right and meet at the center. Searinox them went left himself, once he reached the village Searinox slowed his pace drasticly has he planted his back against a wall of one of the outer house's. Focusing on any activity inside the house all he could make out was the heavy snoring from some human. judging from the location of the house probably the farmer that owned the orchard. Poking his head around the corner he could see a dog house infront of him, with what appeared to be a large hunting hound. Though it was chained, waking it up would not be wise. He decided to circle around further, dashing into a dark ally between two of the houses. The lay out of the village was a mess, all the the houses were scatter around almost at random, luckely the houses were in to few numbers to provide any complications in navigating through them. So far the only pattern that vould be found was what Searinox deemed to function as the towns squate. It was an open area infront of the church, surrounded with what appeared to be some shops and maybe a tavern of some sorts judging from the wooden sign above the door. So far the only sentry he saw was the one in the tower of the church, but he could wait till the scouting was done.

As Searinox sneaked through the village, avoiding waking up several sleeping dogs or starteling any of the livestock, he searched for what in his mind were the telltale signs of an Alchemists house. Yet throughout the entire village none of the houses looked out of place like he thought. Yet when he reached the far side of the village one house caught his attention, or more precise, a garden did. Where all the other gardens were filled with flowers or vegetables, this one was filled with all kinds of different herbs and plants. Searinox marked the location in his head and set out to meet Iscar at the center of the village.

As Searinox reached the town square he hid out of view from te sentry that was in the tower. While most of his time was spend looking towards the sea he did turn around several times and inspected inland. He needed to be dealt with before the attack could begin. Scanning around the square Searinox spotted Iscar on the far side. After they were able to establish eye contact (for as far one can make that at that distance) Searinox signaled him to take him out with his handbow once the oppertunity arrised. Sneaking ever closer to the church while the sentry was facing the other way he turned around to see if Iscar was ready. When he saw that Iscar was ready to strike holding his handbow ready Searinox immitated a ravens call, this drew the attention from the sentry who leaned vloser to the edge to see where it came from. Before he could spot Searinox though Iscar ran out of his cover to get into firing range and unleahed two bolt from his handbow. Before the sentry could react one of the bolts hit him in his head while the other grazed his shoulder. Searinox had hoped that he would have fallen down but instead he fell backwards into the tower. As Iscar ran back to cover Searinox stayed and tried to listen for any signs of life, though at this distance that was difficult to do and so after a few minutes of waiting with no alarm having been sound he cpncluded that the srntry was succesfully killed, or at the very least severly injured enough to have gone into shock. He turned to Iscar and signaled for the retreat.

Once they safely made it back to the group Searinox allowed himself to catch his breath whilest leaning against a tree and taking a few good gulps from his remaining bottle of brandy, offering some to Iscar aswell afterward. He then turned towards Incareth and the other mercanaries to make a report."Out target seems to be at the far side of the village, not what i expected it to look like but the garden is filled witj all kinds of differeny herbs. Defense of the village is low as we expected, we only came across one sentry up in the church tower but we toke care of him... most likely. Iscar here shot a bolt straight in his face but he fell into the tower so we couldn't confirm the kill." He turned towards the town "As for horses, all we found were big ones, horses breed for farm work. Though we don't know about any horses they might be keeping out of view. any resistance will most likely come out of the church. I suggest we move fast though, before they find the dead sentry."

Ladry was deep in thought when Searinox left; in fact, she barely noticed he was gone the whole time. In her mind, she reached out to each house, probing and prodding for signs of any attunement to the winds of magic. As she found one, she gave a barely visible shiver of surprise, as it felt very much different from what she had exptected. Faint, almost invisible to the inner eye. Caraocs redirection of the winds wasnt helping, either, but then he did something. It was suddenly all the more clear. This was either a very weak magic user, or more likely a magic object of some kind. She decided to claim that object for her own, given the chance.

When Searinox and Iscar returned, she snapped out of her focused state and directed her attention to what they had to say. One dead sentry, and a house on the far side of the village with strange plants in the garden. The same house in which she had sensed this weird presence. Ladry had never believed in coincidence. Now was not the time to start.

"Excellent work, you two. I have searched for the presence of magic in the village whilst you scouted, and aided by Caraocs astromancy I have sensed what appears to be a magic user in that same house that you described had a strange garden, Searinox." She paused slightly to emphasise her words; it was detrimental that noone saw through this gambit of hers. "I think these two things are sufficient evidence that we may conclude our target is in that house, or possibly the church. As a result, I suggest we all circle around the village whilst still under cover of darkness, claim our objective, and then maybe proceed through the village to claim our secondary objective; slaves, afterwards. I also suggest, due to the magic presence I have sensed, that I accompany the front line as we enter the house, so I can more easily assess and help mitigate any threats we might face."

Presenting a direct approach, with the unspoken purpose being to have a first-on chance to search for magic items in the alchemists house, disguised beneath a desire to protect her allies. This desire is actually truthful, so she is not outright deceptive.

The two scouts came back just as the fog densified.They reported to have silenced the single sentry. They told also about several domestic animals.Then Ladry set the order for the objectives: first the house with possible magic interference, next the village.Caraoc added:"May I suggest to remain as stealthy as possible when we get into the first house?This one might well shelter the only arcane defender, better not awake him too early.

The next step will be to invade the village. This will happen at dawn, when the villagers wake up anyway. There will be fog.Unless there's a better course of action, I intend to blow the horn twice, as soon as there is an evidence of the village waking up, either because of the attack or because of the daylight. At the time, there will be quite a dense fog, the humans will have no clue about what's happening. And I expect the horn to cause panic to animals, which can only help us."

Caraoc was curious to investigate that strange house. The slave hunt that would follow could be fun, too.

"I'd have to agree with Caroac," Searinox replied "It would be wise to keep a low profile until we have secured the alchemists house. I'd also suggest that some of us 'escort' the alchemist back to the Hungry Gaze after we secure him so that the villagerd can't rescue him."

He then turned his eyes back towards the village, a dense fog had started to settle. "Let's see if my godess will grant us save passage this dawn." Searinox then slowly moved to the edge of the forest, close enough so that the fog touched his feet. Raising his hand to his chest he seemed to grab an amulet that was underneath his armor and closef his eyes. He then started to whisper a small prayer, audible only to those that payed attention to him.

"Ow Ladrielle, Lady of Mists, hear thy servants call.Please grant us safe passage through your divine mists.Let it be, the shadows and darkness in their eyes.Let us become, thy hunters in the night."

As he opened his eyes Searinox recalled the many times he had heard the sorceresses of his house recite the prayer.He had no idea if it would have any affect in the comming battle, but it was tradition. And it was up to Searinox to keep it alive.

He then turnef back towards the others "So are we gonna get going before they all wake up?"

Agreeing with the plan and adding to it.Reciting a small prayer for fortunate mistsUrging the grouo to make haste

The human sentry was dispatched and elven scouts returned to their host. The attack was imminent. But first, the alchemist's house lied in the interest of the druchii.

“So you really think there will be something of worth by that would-be miracle man?” Incaneth did not seem to agree but then shrugged. “I just want to stress that if there really is some big fat prize I will be the one who takes it and brings it to Kireth. Then we will sell it somewhere and share the gold as usual. Besides, as it is likely there will be nothing of much worth we should not spend too much time with this. But maybe our fair lady thinks otherwise,” he ended with a teasing look at Analya.

The noble girl eyed him amusedly and answered: “Your fair lady is a bit worried if you can all fit in the house. You will trip over each other and find nothing.” Returning to a serious voice, she ordered: “Our two scouts will go in first as they are the stealthiest ones. They will pick locks, silence sleeping humans and ensure the search party can go in safely. Then, Ladry, Caraoc, Incaneth and one other corsair can enter. Search the house quickly but do not lose too much time with it. We want to launch the attack before dawn. If you do not succeed in half an hour the item is probably well hidden or not present at all. We will then attack the village itself and return later. Our two groups will be waiting outside. If you hear a fight you will join them and proceed as usual.Now, let us go. Through the orchard, then to the right. Be as silent as possible.”

Soon after the dark elves got to move, happy that their waiting had finally met an end.

***

The village was as silent as before. The sea was fizzing silently, snoring was to be heard from one of the central houses and occasionally, a horse snorted. The druchii host did a noise from time to time, too, a heavy step, a ping of a weapon, but it did not seem to alert anyone. Soon they reached the house with unusual garden. Six persons closed by and the rest, divided into two groups, hid in the shadows of nearby buildings.

The first one who stepped into the house was Iscar. He found a side entrance, played with its lock for a brief moment, opened the door and proceeded inside; he took a short while to inspect the interior and invited others with a gesture to join him. Incaneth and another corsair quickly followed.

The alchemist's home was a simple building. There were two rooms, a tiny attic and adjacent to one wall a shed. In the larger room, a table and a few chairs could be found, some wardrobes and several pieces of kitchen tools hanging on the walls. Across from the main door, a simple empty bed was standing. The smaller room was separated by a curtain. Its most dominant feature was a big table by the window and many pieces of flagons and bottles; few books and pouches were to be seen, too. Under the roof, some plants were drying.

The elves with magical affinity could now sense the familiar glow right in their vicinity, stronger than before but still very faint. It was not obvious to determine the direction it was coming from but they could soon recognize it was leading them to a single wardrobe.

The plan was for her and Caraoc to enter the house along with a few corsairs and Searinox. It would not be possible for her to claim any treasure for herself, certainly not magical ones, without being noticed. Better to share with one than with many, then. Just before they set out for their target, she casually walked close to Caraoc, and a barely audible whisper came across her lips. "We should claim the magical object, not the captains dog".

Ladry kept all her focus together on making as little noise as possible. Being a nimble elf with no armor and no strong desire to draw weapons, she was fairly pleased when she was among the least noisy of the elves. She noted the trained movement of most of the others - the khainite was perhaps the most noisy, with Dolan a close second, as would be expected.

Upon reaching the alchemists house, Iscar entered the building first. After making sure noone was home, he wawed for the others to enter. It soom became plain that one of the wardrobes very likely contained what they where here for. Ladry made sure to catch Caraocs eye knowingly, and then started to systematically search the rooms for anything, anything at all, that might look like 'something'. Something to satisfy the captain, such that the magical object could go to those most deserving of it.

Ladrys plan is to seize the object emanating the magical aura for herself, possibly sharing it with Caraoc. She knows the 'signal' comes from the wardrobe. She starts searching through the entire building. She does not start with the wardrobe (that would be too obvious), but she will look there on her way through the cabin.

As they moved on, Ladry managed to tell in a barely perceible way "We should claim the magical object, not the captains dog", leaving no time for an answer.It surprised the pilot corsair. The captain had no dog that was to be captured. Caraoc realized in a second that it was a nickname given to Incareth Aez the First Officer. That explained the meaning of the sentence.

In Naggaroth, corsairs were as selfish as enyone else, and Ladry was expected to be no different from her kin. Any self-respecting Druchii could be expected to claim for himself whatever booty he could get surreptitiously.Here, she suggested to share the raid's prize with Caraoc. That was either a deep mark of confidence, or a treachery maneuvre. Time would tell.What annoyed the corsair was that she seemed to ignore the most important rule for raiding parties, which was crew spirit. Be it at sea or on enemy land, the very survival of the whole crew depended on a high discipline shown by each of its component. Any sign of non-cooperative attitude would not be tolerated by the captain, of course, but it would not be understood nor forgiven by the crew either.Caraoc could have pretended an acknowledgement, and seize the first opportunity to confound the treachery. But that would have been as well against team spirit. Better try to keep her within the group.After a hundred yards, he told Ladry: "Observe the corsairs during a raid. The perfect team, high discipline. The opposite when they relax at homeport, haha!" He hoped she would get the message. If anyone else had heared it, the better.

-=-=-

Caraoc followed the scouts along with the rest of the group, trying to remain as silent as possible, and noting in his mind what where the surroundings.As he had forecast, a dense fog cloud was beginning to invade the village, coming from the sea.Their first target would be the last house swallowed by the mist. After the investigation, they would rely on their memory to investigate the rest of the village, or to come back on their tracks if the need arose. Of course, if they succeeded to take control of the village, it would suffice to wait for a couple more hours and the fog would dissipate - possibly with a bit of help that the Weather Mage knew how to get.

-=-=-

The two scouts opened the way into the likely alchemist's house. Incaneth and Ladry followed them, the First Officer seemingly more interested in observing his mercenaries than in searching the house. "So much for concealing anything serious", thought Caraoc with amusement.Strangely, there was no human being, as the souts quickly reported. The two rooms, the attick and the shed were ransacked. Caraoc did not hurry to join the plunder. There was something eery, which barely disturbed the quiteness of magic winds. It could have come from a wardrobe, in the second room.For some reason, Ladry seemed not to be able to perceive that disturbance. After an eye contact with him, she started searching, but it was elsewhere. Obviously she had perceived, with her female sensibility, Incaneth's scrutiny on her shoulders.

"Here!" said Caraoc pressingly. "Peasants have no books. These books, the flagons and bottles, that's the heretic margrave possessions you said we were looking for." All the alchemist's stuff only demonstrated how primitive their grasp of the arcane was. If the books contained anything magic, it had no significant power by itself; and anyway Caraoc did not read Empire's scripture that looked like ant steps.Caraoc was obliged to let the last corsair pick up what he had just designated as the prize. He even counseled him not to forget the small pouches to be seen here and there. That would keep him busy.

Now that Incaneth had one eye on Ladry, the other eye on the booty, and no spare eye to monitor him, Caraoc opened the wardrobe.He knew that Ladry was eying him with her sixth sense, and would provide a distraction just at the most appropriate time if Caraoc was to find anything interesting.

Noting the path back in case they had to take it in the fog.Opening the wardrobe.

Soon after the final plan had been made the dark elves moved out towards the village, Searinox and Iscar leading the way.As the mist thickened the two scouts did their best to guide the others through the uneven ground of the orchard and towards the house at the far side of the village. Searinox and Iscar would alternate in leading the large group, one would scout up ahead to look for any sentries while the other would wait for the signal to bring the group closer.

Luckily the village was still vast asleep and they were able to reach the other side without to much trouble. Along the way they stopped at two dark alleys where most part of the raid would hide before commencing the attack. After they reached the house Iscar quickly found a way in through a side door, as he knelled next to the door to open it Searinox pressed his ear against the door to listen for any activity inside. He then tapped Iscar's shoulder letting him know he could start picking the lock, in moments he had unlocked the door. 'So far he is just as skilled as Incaneth said he would be.' Searinox thought to himself with a small smile on his face.

As soon as the door opened Incaneth, Iscar and a corsair moved into the house. 'Making sure we don't get our hands on anything to good I presume.' He thought with a small chuckle. He then moved away from the door signalling for Caroac and Ladry to go inside, keeping an eye out for any activity before moving in himself and closing the door behind him.

Once inside Searinox couldn't help but feel disappointed ever so slightly, no bubbling concoctions, no huge contraptions for distilling different kinds of potions. Just a few simple flagons, a few pouches and some drying plants hung from the roof. Searinox picked up one of the books that was one the table and flipped through it. He didn't know what he was looking for but it was better then nothing. The human writing inside them was unreadable to Searinox, though he did recognize a few of the illustrated plants that's where his understanding of the book ended. Quickly putting the book back again he picked up one of the pouches on the table and looked inside it. "So it seems that the Alchemist is out for the evening. Shall we proceed with part two of our attack then?"

Leading everyone to the alchemists houseLooking for anything worth whilewith no magic affinity to notice that there is something magical in the house, he urges the others on to proceed to the next part of the attack.

As Caraoc urged the the corsairs to look at the books and tablets on the alchemists desk, Ladry perceived that he would spend this moment of reprieve to look in the wardrobe. This came in sharp contrast to what he had hinted to her during the sneak towards the village; work together at all times. Nevertheless, she was pleased at this turn of events, and made ready to provide a distraction for Incaneth, to buy Caraoc the time he needed.

There were six elves in the alchemist's house and their number sufficed to make the place full, if not outright crowded. Luckily, the sky was clear and fog only beginning to rise and so they could see rather well.

Iscar, the first one who had entered, looked quickly around and then, led by a finely honed instinct or long raiding experience, opened one of the wardrobes. After he put aside a few bowls and spoons a pleased smile emerged on his lips when a cup made of pure silver was kissed by the moonlight. Soon after, a whole dinner service followed.

Ladry was working through the room, searching for hiding places, taking objects to her hands and putting them away again. She found a few pieces of finely crafted clothing, some jewellery, a small statuette of Sigmar and a few other trinkets. She soon realized she would probably not uncover anything really remarkable and would have to outweigh that with her eloquence.

Searinox was the first to reach the small selection of books but found little interest in them. Some pictures of plants, a lot of strange letters. One of them was obviously a journal, full of messy handwriting the corsair would probably not understand even if he spoke the human language perfectly. On the book jacket there was a coat of arms depicting a tower enveloped by flames. Searinox shrugged and handed it all to the first officer who was just approaching quickly.

Incaneth claimed the books without hesitation and started to work through them. “An herbal… Some alchemistic nonsense… Some philosophical nonsense… Stories about Tilean nobility? That could give us a good laugh some time… Nothing of much worth, it seems.” Then the first officer turned to inspect the various bottles and flagons. He noticed some of them had captions.

Away from the inspective eyes of the first officer, Caraoc the skald opened the wardrobe where the magical glow was the strongest. He put aside several blankets, dug through some underwear and took a short look at shirts – some of them were made from very fine linen and one was even decorated with golden thread. Apart from clothing, though, he found nothing. As an experienced raider, he immediately checked if there was a false bottom but it did not seem the case. Despite that he was sure the glow was stemming from a place right under his hands.

As Searinox urged to move on, the first officer turned to him: “We will give it a bit more time, first. Someone might still get lucky.”

Ladry: "Anything" is a broad term. Decide for yourself what do you want to find - the man lives in a village but has some wealth and could have bought some shinies in a town, many things would make sense to be present. Searinox: You can claim some small thing if you wish, some money, a vial with a strange tincture or something like that. Caraoc: You did not find what you wanted in the wardrobe. But you know you are close.

Spot on!The two mages' intuition had proven fruitful. The booty immediately found was rich enough to grant that the owner of the house was definitely no peasant.Better even than the unexpected silverware, the books and flagons could be considered a worthy prize, even with no other discovery.

Caraoc was searching the wardrobe. With his former experience as raider, he evaluated the alchemist as a rich landlord. Still, there was this faint disturbance of magic winds that he could perceive. Like a tree disturbing the flow of mundane winds. That was coming from none of the fine linen he had in his hands. The intensity was comparable to the disturbance made by horn he was carrying on his back.Was it a false bottom or a secret drawer? Nothing that he could find, despite knocking and piercing small holes with his cutlass.Caraoc took only the linen embroided finely with a golden thread, this would pay his participation to the raid already.

There was still that arcane disturbance.Where was it coming from? If not from inside the wardrobe, was it behind? Or rather below? Anyway, nowhere that Caraoc could lay his hands on without everyone noticing.He could have investigated with the stellar help of Azyr, but better limit arcane help to cases not solvable otherwise.Given that there was no way to hide his discovery, better use it as a proof of outstanding cooperation.

"Beware, I'm going to move that wardrobe, something might be hidden below".Then the corsair pilot grabbed the wardrobe and started to pull it in the middle of the room, in order to check what was behind and below.

As Ladry rummaged through the room, buying time for Caraoc to search undisturbed, she happened upon random pieces of clothing and small amounts of jewelry, and a statue. She crafted a small bolt out of the cloth she had found, and tugged the trinkets inside before handing it over to one of the corsairs.

Meanwhile, Caraoc seemed to have found the source of the magic disturbance as well. However, it was too well hidden; he could not uncover it without showing everyone what was happening. Realising this, Caraoc said "Beware, I'm going to move that wardrobe, something might be hidden below". Agreeing that secrecy was not the best course of action now, Ladry stepped forward to give him a hand, focusing now all her attention towards finding source of arcane energy they were both feeling.

Helping Caraoc with the wardrobe, abandoning her hope of claiming the arcane treasure unseen.

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